Gaijin Spoken To In Honorific Japanese Except For One Basic Word Of English

Jan 22, 2016

A supermarket employee responds to a gaijin’s question with two sentences in keigo and one word of English.

A supermarket employee in Chiba Prefecture today responded to a gaijin’s question with two incomprehensible sentences in honorific form and one word of English the gaijin could have said himself in Japanese.

The foreigner, who had been living in Japan for about twelve months, was informed that eggs were ‘situated in the dairy product division of the premises in aisle two’ – with the word ‘two’ being communicated in English.

The employee made the executive decision mid-sentence to trade the word ‘ni’ for its English equivalent ‘two’.

“It just came to me and I ran with it – it felt amazing,” the man said.

Despite the employee’s efforts the foreigner couldn’t even catch the word ‘two’ with his focus solely on comprehending the Japanese.

The exchange ended with a pleasant smile and the gaijin walking in the opposite direction of his desired destination.